Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1887-03-23
SOUTH STATE aAMRLEs.
A Y~anhstoninn Abound In the Land of
Dixie-The Country. the People and
Their Peculiarittes

Their P~ecmliaritaes
Ohuluota. Orange County, Florida,
Msfch 18th, 1SS7-To the Press and
Dakotaian: l stayed bat q day in
Atlanta, and found neither business or
sight seeing to detain me or make me
wish to repeat my visit. 1t is a d,ngy,
town Of 10000 people. of whom
IS 900 are oolored. Iarriyed on Sunday,
and soon began to look around to see
what were the chances for getting some
thing to drink. Not that I personally
desired any stimulus; but because
Atlanta Is n Of the great battle
grounds of prohibition, n I cared
more to examine such q battle ground
the forts and rife pitt, that / had
seen from the car windows.
found a few drug stores open, day
and evening, but doing no business.
Their long array of twenty or thirty
silver faucets in an immense marble
soda fountain WAS in each case idle and
unused. The alluring labels aud place
ards, sweet cider" "old style lemon
ade," "sherbet, !" fresh milk," and a dozen
others more or less numerous. attracted
no thirsty topers. Either prohibition
had reformed them all or else the big
policeman at each whisky dealers door
was placed there to take away their APP
petite for liquor. I was told that only
the previous day. the supreme court had
passed inal judgment on the test case
by which the rumsellers had hoped to
overthrow the law, and had completely
vindicted prohibition; also that the
dealers had declared they would fight no
longer bat would now obey the law in
good faith. Great was the rejoicing
among all whom l conversed with on the
subject.
Atlanta has one magnificent hoteh but
my name does not adorn it's register.
Instead l sought the shelter OF the st.
George hotel, which q southerner had
highly recommended as very good for q
low price. Now l like 90 think and talk
Of thas st. George house. It made me
twice glad-glad that l had seen its in
imitable southern ways, and glad to see
them no more.
This hotel was in the third, fourth and
fifth. stories OF q %pretentious corner
building. and each room wat twelve to
fourteen feet high. The landlords APP
propriate name was Hightower. He was
one OF twenty-five Hightowers in the
directory. It ID o grand old Georgia name,
and reminded me OF gang Of Missouri
Hightowers whom ! met In western
Colorado. l wish I could adequately
describe how high toned this particular
Hightower was, When brought into
his presence, / found q small, round
shonldered dirty old %loafer, smoking o
pipe OF most villainous odor, sitting be-
fore his coal CRATE without 6 coat, and
splitting at the fire. Il was Sunday
afternoon, and his shirt was like his
other clothing, very unclean. It was too
much worn away at the neck to support
q collar SO he went without. He was o
small ignorant Georgia farmer, who had
come IN from his backwoods home to as
sumo the dignity Of q city hotel keeper.
l had no Feed to go TOT theater in search
OF an amusing farce. / only needed to
observe his airs and gauge the real cali
Der OF this lofty tower.
His wife sat on the other side of the
fire place, o little WORKOUT, grey, feeble
body curled down in . rocking chair.
Her hand held q little red tin box most
OF the time. Between her lips she held
a small stick as large as . match. Every
few minutes the thin hand would open
the red box take the bit of stick with
its wet end chewed into q brush, stir it
in the snuff box, and replace it in the
mouth carefully ssaabbing it about all
the teeth and gums. She was industri-
onsly dipping snuff and when closely
observed q faint black lima around her
lips showed that she kept the stimulat-
ing and paDgent infusion Of snuff mostly
10 her mouth,
And why shouldn't Mrs. Hightower
season herself through and through with
her ''maccoboy !" ] honor her and the
several millions OF other women, white
or black, ia the south, who Thus practi-
cally use their "woman's right" to be
just as filthy and low as their hus.
bands are. Is not everything allowable
In matters OF self defense? How else
are they to resist the disgusting smells
OF smoking and chewing husbands,
brothers or lovers, except by dehling
their own mouths IN self defense?
Again when the husband spends a dol
lar q week for beastly indulgence in to.
bacco. il is the "woman's right" to have
an equal amount paid out for her snuff.
a certain bookseller powerfully i'd
vecates giving women equal rights with
men; but his theories are being carried
out in some respects by all thess south.
ern women. He will sell young men and
boys cigars, tobacco cigarettes and
trashy reading without hesitation; yet
il young ladies and little girls should at
tempt to buy these same Injuries, I hall
believe his 'tmoral" nature would receive
such a shock that he would nearly for
get his woman'a rights idea for a while.
AT evening the salvation army came
bawllng along the street, singing a gos.
E = X. 80